The Happiness Saboteur

Profile of a Narcissist from the novel:’The Life Coach Less Travelled’ “I think I can remember a time when I was happy, before my sister was born. My clearest memory of her is when I was five, going on six. My saliva was dribbling onto the skin which...

Sister Patrick’s Namesake

Humourous extract from my novella, ‘So Sister,’ which usually goes down well at readings, delivered in my corny Irish accent. The girls in the Geography class at the protagonist’s convent school delight in leading this delightful nun off her subject:...

Manchester Women: Past and Future (poem)

Manchester Women – Past and Future Queen Bees of the dusty, backstreet Hives of tight-knit terraced houses, Workers amidst the frantic buzz Of tireless factory machines; Holding up the living fabric Of industry, family nests, And bosoms in flowered pinnies; Gossiping...

Ash Wednesday Nostalgia

This image from an article in ‘The Express’ online today brought back memories of my Roman Catholic childhood; of queuing up, offering our little foreheads to receive that dusty, purplish smudge across and down, unaffected by the sombre reminder of our own...

Homework: #ClimateChange (Eco poem)

Would you be willing to take a pledge, Sprout beans and grow your own veg? Scorn fancy packaging – all that crap – Drink fresh water from a tap? Put your back into it, dig the soil, Read food labels, shun palm oil? Eat soya instead of juicy beef, Embrace...